Columbine: A native bloomer for Atlanta woodland gardens
White and pink columbine flower.
(c) www.flowers.vg
. Established Atlanta gardens with stands of trees, can frequently use part-shade bloomers for interest. Columbine (
Aquilegia canadensis) is a good choice, and easy to maintain.
Columbine will produce nice bi-colored flowers in a variety of combinations: including yellow, white, blue, pink & purple. Established from seed or nursery pots, they can be grown in old tree stumps, rock crevasses, and of course, in flowerbeds.
Uses. Columbine make nice cut flowers, a good addition to a perennial beds, a filler for odd sections of establish tree stands.
Establishment. Plant from nursery pots or seed in early Spring, or purchase potted from nursery. Locate in dappled shade. Avoid all-day full sun. A woodland plant, it will prefer rich soil. Prepare soil well with compost. Seed sown in Spring may not flower the first season.
Maintenance. Primary maintenance concern is leaf-miners. If you see yellowed or mottled foliage, cut back and discard, and allow new foliage to sprout. Keep soil moist during dry spells.
A few varieties:
A. canadensis 'Corbet', yellow, 12-24 inches
A. flabellata 'Nana' under 12 inches.
A. hybrida - multiple hybrid varieties come in many color variations
References:
Abdurrahim is the lead designer at
metro-Atlanta based, Proudland Landscape, LLC.
You can contact him with question via email at
arjalal@proudlandlandscape.com.
Follow him on Twitter at
twitter.com/Proudland.
Also, check our Facebook fan page
facebook.com/ProudLandscapeLabels: color, flowers, garden, native, planting, Spring
February Gardening Task Rundown
For those you who may have missed some, here is a rundown of our essential gardening articles for February that we published on Examiner.com . This information is generally applicable to many areas of the United States, however, the seasonal timing is specific to the metro Atlanta area, surrounding counties, and North Georgia.
Gardening tasks for February -- a list of gardening tasks to get accomplished before March.
Which lopper pruners should I buy? -- a discussion of some key factors in selecting a new pair of loppers.
Protecting flowers & pansies from ice -- still relevant information for the next four to six weeks in areas above the fall line Georgia (line running from Columbus to Macon to Augusta)
Live plants from Valentines Day? -- applicable advice for any live plant flower baskets you may receive, even after Valentines Day.
Pruning Crape Myrtles -- if you absolutely must prune your Crape Myrtles, get it done now, and read this article.
Must-do Atlanta Winter gardening tasks -- your most essential last-minute Winter gardening tasks for Atlanta gardeners.
Phlox--a classic Atlanta flower garden plant -- can start indoors now, or seed outdoors beginning April.
Get ready for Lawn Spring Green-up -- task list to have a great Spring green up for your warm-season lawn grass.
These are the articles from February which are, and will remain seasonally relevant through March. I will be putting out a new March gardening task list, so look for it.
Abdurrahim is the lead designer at metro Atlanta based Proudland Landscape, LLC.
You can contact him with question via email at arjalal@proudlandlandscape.com
Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/Proudland.
Labels: articles, Crape Myrtles, flowers, garden, lawn, maintenance, Pruning, Spring, tasks, winter
Phlox--a classic Atlanta garden flower plant
Pholx subulata - Creeping or Moss Phlox.
(c) Jerzy Opiola - License Creative Common Share Alike 3.0 Have you ever seen those billows of cascading pink and pale purple flowers spilling over walls? These things go in cycles, and there was a time that phlox was ubiquitous in the Atlanta gardens. In older landscapes it can be seen flowing over stacked stone
retaining walls in pillows of soft pink. Phlox is a fairly easy to grow flower, available in perennial cultivars (e.g.,
garden phlox, and
creeping phlox), and annual varieties.
A number of phlox varieties are originally native to the Southern and Appalachian Regions of the United States, making it a nice choice for gardeners interested in native plants, or encouraging a native feel to their gardens.
Uses. These make nice cut flowers, are good choices for balconies, patio railings, behind retaining walls, and in window boxes. Typically seen in pink or pale purple, they are also available in reds, white, and yellow.
Establishment. Indoors - You can begin growing indoors from seed six to eight weeks before the last frost. In Atlanta that would be planting from beginning in the middle of February, to the first week in March. You can then transplant to the outdoor garden after the middle of April.
Outdoors - Locate your phlox in full sun. Transplant seedlings you started indoors, or plant outdoors from seed. Sow seeds in your prepared garden soil beginning in the middle of March.
Maintenance. Dead head faded flowers. Fertilize once with 10-10-10 fertilizer. Maintain a good layer of mulch. And keep watered, to maintain soil moisture, but be careful not to oversaturate soil (well drained soils)
A few varieties:
Creeping phlox -- Phlox stoloniferaGarden Phlox -- Phlox paniculata 'Peacock Neon Rose'Moss Phlox -- Phlox subulata 'Drummond's Pink' Garden Phlox -- Phlox paniculata 'Peacock White'Abdurrahim is the lead designer at metro Atlanta based, Proudland Landscape, LLC.
You can contact him with question via email at arjalal@proudlandlandscape.com.
Follow him on twitter at twitter.com/Proudland.
Labels: color, flowers, garden, Spring, Summer
Pansies Freeze Burned by Ice?
Don't let your flowers look like this
(c)2009 Proudland Landscape, LLC
Protect your pansies and other winter seasonal flowers from freeze burn. January and February Atlanta weather can be extremely deceiving when it comes to winter temperatures. Seasonal flowers can become the victims of balmy winter days, followed by bouts of ice and freezing temperatures. Atlanta and North Georgia gardeners must be proactive to prevent damage.
There are five action items to prevent winter damage to your pansies and other seasonal winter flowers: Plant in the ideal window, prepare soils, mulch properly, water adequately, protect from ice. Planting and soil preparation may be beyond your control at this point, but the other items can be still acted on.
Planting time. Planting time for Summer and Winter seasonal color is very important. For winter flowers, we want temperatures to be cool enough that the flowers won't suffer heat stress, but still have enough time for them to establish before winter sets in. This time would be the middle of October in Atlanta, and surrounding areas.
Soil preparation. We want well tilled soils, with plenty of organic matter. Hard, clay, rocky soils will just not cut it. Roots need to grow easily and quickly, water needs to be absorbed and then released to the roots, and there needs to be mico air pockets for insulation--In short: fluffy, black soil.
Mulch. A heavy layer of mulch should be applied to the newly planted and watered flowers. This layer should be maintained, and replenished as needed throughout the winter. When the squirrels and neighborhood dogs dig in your fluffy beds, go behind them and repair your mulch layer. This will provide the moisture retention, and insulation your flowers need.
Water adequately. This is a double-edged sword. Cold and low humidity levels will dry plants out, so they need water. However, if your watering is ill-timed, this will leave a coat of ice on the leaves and flowers, which can burn your flowers to the ground. The solution is to be dilligent about watering before the first hard freezes set in. After that, turn off your automatic sprinklers, and water by hand in between rainfall.
Protect from ice. Do what you can to keep ice from forming on the leaves and flowers. You only can control so much, but absolutely turn automatic sprinklers off before the first freezing mornings. Nothing will burn down your flowers quickly than a nice, thick coat of ice sprayed on your flowers when the sprinklers go off at 6am in 30 degree temperatures.
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Labels: flowers, frost, winter
Zero landfill update: Compost
The zero-landfill objective is moving along. This past year, we have used predominantly home-grown compost. For example, our recent Spring and Fall seasonal color/annual flower installations were done with 100% home-grown compost. We do this be digesting the softer yard waste and debris we collect from landscape maintenance operations throughout the year. The waste is composted at our facility, and reused in our planting projects.
There are a number of large volume projects where we need to bring in outside compost, like large soil bed preparations and top-dressing operations.
Labels: color, compost, flowers, recycle, zero landfill
Compost Experiment--Spring Flowers 2007
We’ve been amassing a compost pile over the past few seasonal flower change-outs. We install a fair amount of annual flowers each Spring and Fall--using a LOT of compost. As a result, our compost pile has neither seemed adequate for the job, nor quite ripe enough at the right time. However, this year the stars lined up just right, the worms moved with sufficient efficiency, and Mother Nature delivered on time, in sufficient quantity for the Spring flower change-out. We managed to install all our current commitments using our own composted material.
Time will reveal whether our blend of ingredients proves better, worse, or as middling as its commercially available brethren. It’s seemed, in my anecdotal experience, that the commercially available compost has been something less than super rich in recent years. Maybe, we’ve hit upon the solution.
We’re still using our other proprietary blend of ingredients--fertilizers, microbes, moisture enhancers, mulches, soils, and of course, flowers.
Updates on the benefits to begonias, et. al. will follow.
A.J., Proudland Landscape, LLC © 2007
Labels: compost, flowers, garden, gardener, landscape
A Frost Lesson
Last week we had a late season frost (late for Atlanta, Georgia). In speaking with people this week, I am reminded of a question I am often asked each year. As soon as April hits, people wonder why we haven't swapped their seasonal flowers, annuals or bedding plants. Inevitably there is a neighbor, or an apartment complex, or an industrial park somewhere that has new summer flowers early in April. People see this and then wonder why they don't have new flowers yet. Last week is the reason. There is a historical point of last frost. Plant before that and you may have to pay a hefty price.
Woody plants, woody ornamentals will typically be OK. However, tender annual flowers and bedding plants won't fair so well. In many years Mother Nature won't make her point. But every now and again, she will. Waiting a couple of more weeks is a small price to pay to prevent redoing (and repaying for) the work all over again.
A.J., Proudland Landscape, LLC © 2007
Labels: flowers, frost, gardener, landscape
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